title: The effect of lateral visual fixation and the direction of eye movements on heartbeat discrimination.
abstract: This study was undertaken to determine whether the asymmetrical activation of the two cerebral hemispheres affects the accuracy of heartbeat perception. Hemispheric preference--the tendency to activate one hemisphere rather than the other--was assessed by the directionality of conjugate lateral eye movements. Actual differential hemispheric activation was achieved by contralateral visual fixation. The results of 44 right-handed male subjects showed that right hemisphere preferent subjects ("left-movers") performed better on a heartbeat discrimination task than left hemisphere preferent subjects ("right-movers"). The direction of lateral visual fixation also influenced heartbeat discrimination: subjects fixating to the left were more accurate than those fixating to the right.
authors.affiliation: Department of Comparative Physiology, Eŏtvös Loránd University, Budapest, Hungary.
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Weisz
authors.forename: L
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Balázs
authors.forename: E
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Láng
authors.forename: G
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Adám
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D001288:Attention / Q000502:physiology; D002540:Cerebral Cortex / Q000502:physiology*; D004192:Discrimination, Psychological / Q000502:physiology*; D004292:Dominance, Cerebral / Q000502:physiology*; D005133:Eye Movements / Q000502:physiology*; D005403:Fixation, Ocular / Q000502:physiology*; D006339:Heart Rate / Q000502:physiology*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D011603:Psychophysiology; D014794:Visual Fields / Q000502:physiology*